Sep. 2--The best decision that I have ever made was ignoring everyone who told me "you can't make money in Cornwall". Granada bought Forte in 1996 and for the first time in my life I was cash-rich. I had always had shares in Forte plc, which provided an income, but my father, Lord Forte, had always strongly discouraged us from selling them. To begin with, I had no idea what to do with the money. 
 

For years, my husband, William Shawcross, had been visiting St Mawes with his parents (who still live in the house next to the hotel) and had seen what is now Tresanton in its heyday. He said that I could do something really good with it and we thought about it for two years. I would look at the wild rear garden and see the magic. The sailing is among the best in the country and the views are stunning.  Once we had finally decided that I should do it, the work began. Everything needed

Olga Polizzi bought  Hotel Tresanton,  St Mawes,  Cornwall in 1997

The rebuilding took only 10 months in the end, but that was with a lot of hard work. 

Tresanton was the best thing I ever did. Although I had been around hotels and working in hotels all my life, Tresanton was the first time I could really do everything the way I wanted it. No managers were there to say, "Oh, but we have to have this", or "You can't put that there". 

I did not have a specific vision, I just knew I wanted it to be a simple, smart, seaside hotel. I chose everything of the best quality, like the biggest baths I could find, so the guests would enjoy the experience. 

At the same time as being my best decision, in many ways, I often feel it is also my worst. I have to admit that when I set it up I had not realised quite how much time and effort it would take. 

Of course, I saw the initial stages as being hard, but now, in our third year, I would have thought it would have eased off. 

In fact, it is still as busy as ever. If it doesn't need re-painting, which it does every year, it needs more staff. There has been a fantastic chef for the past two years and now he is leaving to set up his own thing. Finding a great chef is never easy; finding one who wants to live in Cornwall is even harder. Things constantly seem to go wrong. 

I am very lucky as Tresanton seems to have taken off as an idea. Every week I get a call from at least one customer asking where I got the carpet, or what shade the paint in the bathroom is. 

It has been profitable since its first year and now all the money from the bank has been paid back. 

I am so glad I decided to go ahead with a plan that virtually everyone told me would fail. For anyone who is thinking of doing the same, it is great, satisfying and enjoyable, but you need to work day and night and there is a never-ending array of problems to be solved. But everything, ultimately, is my responsibility. 

Olga Polizzi is a board director of RF Hotels 

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